hansen



- Oct. 6, 1925.

G. A. HANSEN MACHINE FOR MARKING 0R CANCELING MAIL MATTERS Filed Aug. 2, 1923 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 J dwvcwclwamw 1; 1 0W MWNC-LM Oct. 6, 1925- G. A. HANSEN MACHINE FOR MARKING 0R CANCELING MAIL MATTERS Filed Aug. 2, 1923 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 G. A. -HANSEN MACHINE FOR MARKING OR CANCELING MAIL MATTERS Filed Aug. 2,- 1923 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 -li j i "i fv dmvwtw San/t. M

cz im n W Patented Oct. 6, 1925.

UNITED STATES 1,556,218 PATENT OFFICE.

GUSTAV ADOYLF HANSEN, OF CHBISTIANI A, NORWAY MACHINE FOR MAKIN s men MA1I+ MA IERS- Application filed August 2, 1923. Serial No. 655,132.

To all whom it may concern:

"Be it known that I, GUSTAV ADoLr HAN- SEN, a subject of the King of Norway, residing at Vognmandsgate 13, Christiania, Norway, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in a Machine for Marking .or Canceling Mail Matters; and I do here-.

device of which acts to mark only so much of the letter as to cancel the stamp, leaving the rest untouched.

Machines constructed for this purpose are in use in which the rotatory stamp makes one revolution and is then brought to a stand still for a shorter or longer time till a new letter arrives. My invention consists in certain improvements in machines of the class described, which improvements are of such nature as to provide a simple machine of great efficiency which runs smoothly with little wear and as noiseless as possible, which may be manufactured at a relatively small cost. I

A characteristic point in the construction and operation of the machine is the employment of aspring actuated clutch between a constantly rotating driving spindle or driven wheel and the stamp'spindle, and the use of the spring in the clutch mechanism as a buffer spring which takes up a great part of the momentum of the stamp spindle when it is stopped.

In order to fully explain my improvements, theworking ofthe machine, its advantages and the special constructions'p'ref erably used to obtain the best result in every way, I shall inthe following describe a machine as I prefer to carry it out in its main parts, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the machine Figure 1 is a plan view of the spring pressed wing forming part of the embodiment of the invention hereinafter described.

I 2 is a vertical sectional view on larg er scale of the stamping device and stamp, roll starting device in the, position when stamping takes place.

Fig. 3 's a horizontal view of themechanism for arresting the stamp. roll. Y

Fig. 4; is a perspective view of the stamp roll starting and ar resting device.

The machine comprises the following groups of mechanism:

I. The feeding mechanism.

II. The letter separating mechanism.

III. The stamping rollstarting mechanism.

IV. The stamping mechanism comprising the stamp roll proper, the counterroll and the inking apparatus. v

V. The receiving mechanism.

Of these successive devices, which are all seen in the plan view of Fig. 1 and which are mounted on a table, I shall first describe the construction and operation of the stamping mechanism, being the most important part of the machine and comprising the stamping roller and its spindle and driving mecha,

nism, the coupling mechanism by which the stamping spindle is coupled to the driving gear, the means for arresting the stamp spindle when it has made one revolution and the devicesfor automatically releasing the said arresting device at a given moment in the feeding of the letter.

Referring to Figs. 2, 3 and 4:, 1 is the'stamp spindle carryingat its top the stamp roller 2 secured to the spindle in any suitable manner. 'The stamp roller spindle is carried by a bracket 3 beneath the table of the machine in the following manner:

In a boring'in the bracket is fitted a sleeve 4, which is provided on its outside with a collar 5 and on top of which is another sleeve 6 between which and the sleeve 4 is inserted a ring 7. The sleeves 4 and 6 and the ring 7 are prevented from turning on the stamp spindle by meansof a keys. The sleeve 6 is providedwith screw threads 9 on which a nut 10 is adapted to turn. The nut 10 has 10v in its upper posltion as shown in the drawing. Another sleeve 14: is secured to the stamp spindle above the sleeve 6, which serves as a bearing for the hub of the gear wheel 15. This gear wheel is constantly rotating and the stamp spindle is at rest, unless the nut .10 is in the position shown in Fig. 2. The lower face of the hub of the gear wheel is provided with clutch test-11 16 (see Fig. 4) which are adapted to mesh with clutch teeth on the top face of the nut 10.

The lug 11 on the nut and the lug 13 on the sleeve 4 serve not only to hold the spring 12 in tension, but they also act as stop lugs, as will now be explained, especially with reference to Figs. 3 and By means of these stop lugs, the stamp spindle is kept positively arrested in such a way, that it can not turn either way. This position is shown in Fig. 4, whereas in Figs. 2 and 3 the parts are shown in position in which the stamp spin die is rotating.

20 is a spindle journaled in a suitable way near the letter way and carrying near its upper end a set of arms 21 forming a comb. The said spindle 20 carries at its lower end an arm 22, to which is pivoted an arm 23 having a shoulder at 24 and an inclined portion at 25. Near its fulcrum the arm 23 has secured to it a spring 26, the other end of which is secured to the frame of the machine.

30 is a two-armed lever fulcrumed at 31 and the end 32 of which is adapted to abut against the lug 11 on the nut 10 while the other end of the lever is adapted to be engaged by the shoulder 24: on the just described arm 23, as clearly shown in the perspective view Fig. 4:.

35 is an arm fulcrumed at 36 and being at its free end connected with the lever 30 by a spring 37. The arm 35 has a notch at 38. It will be seen that the spring 37 tends to keep both the arm 35 and the lever 30 in such a position that they will catch the lug 11 on the nut 10 and the lug 13 on the sleeve l.

The spring 26 will tend to keep the notch 24 on the arm 23 in engagement with the lever 30.

The comb 21 is as above described, so placed, that the letters will press against the same when they are passing to the stamp device. vVhen a letter touches the comb 21, the latter will swing in the direction of the arrow and thereby cause the spindle 20 to be turned. l Vhen this spindle is turned, the shoulder 24, which is then in eng with the lever 30, will swing this r, so

that the end 32 of it, which abuts against the lug 11 on the nut 10 is swung out of contact with this lug. The nut is then free to turn and the spring 12 pressing on the lug, will at once cause the nut to be turned and thereby to move upwards so that the clutch 16 is closed.

As the gear wheel 15 is always rotating, the closing of the clutch will cause the stamp spindle 1 to begin to turn and it will then partake in the rotation of the gear wheel 15 nut.

together with the sleeve 1 until the lug 11 again abuts against the end of the lever 30. The lever 30 returns to its normal position as soon as it has released the lug 11, the incline 25 pressing the shoulder 24 out of engagement with the lever 30 by the continued movement of the arm 23.

When, as above described, the lug 11 is free from the abutment against the end of the lever 30, it turns about as much as or of a full revolution, the pitch of the screw threads of the nut being so steep that the clutch is closed after such movement of the When the lug 11 again abuts against the end 32 of the lever 30, the nut is thereby prevented from partaking in the rotation of the stamp spindle. The latter however on account of the momentum of the stamp will continue its rotation with the result that thenut will be moved downwards, against the tension of the spring 12. The spring in this manner acts as a buffer for stopping the rotation of the stamp in a gentle manner so that no shock is created. When the nut reaches its lowermost position the stamp spindle has been turned so much that the notch 38 on the arm 35 will catch behind the lug 13 on the sleeve 4, the stamp spindle is thereby positively prevented from turning either way until it is again released by the passage of a letter.

I shall now describe the feeding apparatus of a machine in front of the stamping apparatus:

The feeding apparatus '(see Fig. 1) consists of an open receptacle formed on top of the machine table between a fixed vertical guide wall 40 and a wing 41 which can swing on an axis The bottom of the receptacle is formed by a belt or apron 43, driven by the pinions a l. The wing 4-1, which by way of a spring, not shown in the drawing, exerts a gentle pressure on the pile of letters, has its free end situated near a feeding roller 50. It has its edge formed in a peculiar way, as shown, whereby the letter nearest the feed roller is advanced a little'in front of the succeeding letters. Another feed roller 51 is placed in front of the roller and in a lower horizontal plane than the other roller opposite to a separating finger 52. This finger holds back the letters and only lets the bottom letter in the pile of letters pass into the machine. This separating finger may be of any suitable construction and in the drawing is shown as consisting of a sharp pointed tooth sloping on the side towards the magazine and pressed against the roll 51 by means of a spiral spring 53 lying around a guide rod passing from the said tooth through a guide lug 5 1.

As will be seen there is a difference in the speed of rotation between the two rollers 50 and 51, the latter rotating somewhat faster, so as to exert a pulling or stretching action on the letter and securing thereby an open space between each letter and the ,following.

To the feeding apparatus belongs the feeding roll 63 which is a positively driven roller and running in contact with the loose running counter roller 65, the latter being so mounted on a swinging frame 66, pivoted at 67 and pressed against the feed roll 63 by a spring 68.

The next device in the machine is the starting apparatus for the stamp roll, which has already been described in connection with the latter. The swinging comb 21 of the starting apparatus is seen in Fig. 1 between the feeding rollers 63, 65, the latter being provided with annular grooves giving the comb-arms ample space for the swinging motion.

On top of the stamp roller 2 is mounted a ring 70 forming a ball bearing 71 for a rotatable ring 7 2. The latter ring has the same diameter as the stamp roll and is continuously in contact with the counter roll of the stamp roll 69 and is therefore constantly rotating. The letters reaching the stamp device therefore at once are pressed between two rotating parts and in this manner are safely guided during their whole passage through the stamp device.

After having passed the stamping apparatus the letters are thrown into the receiving apparatus which however forms no part of this invention, and may be of any suitable construction.

Claims.

1. In combination, a rotatory stamping device, having a fixed axis of rotation, means to continually feed a series of letters to the stamping device, means to hold the stamping device positively arrested during variable periods of the-feeding, means to release the said arresting device at a given moment during the feeding of the letter, the means for arresting the stamping device comprising a spring actuated clutch memher and a member actuated by the moving letters, said last named member controlling the clutch and serving to effect positive engagement and disengagement of the clutch member.

2. In a letter canceling machine the combination with a rotatory stamping device having a. fixed axis of rotation a driving shaft clutch, and means to continually feed a series of letters to the stamping device of means to stop the stamp-ing device when it has made not more than one revolution, said means comprising a buffer spring which when the stamping device has made part of one revolution automatically retards the motion of the device before it is positively stopped and which spring is connected with the driving shaft clutch.

3. In combination means to continually feed a series of letters, a rotary stamping device comprising a stamping roll with a discontinuous rotary motion, a stamping roll driving shaft with a continuous rotary motion, and a spring actuated clutch con-,

of the feeding rollers so as to form a continuous train of single letters, a rotatory stamping device comprising a stamp roll the rotation of which is automatically interrupted at variab-leintervals and a counter roll, a stamp roll starting device interposed between the feed rollers and the stamping device and comprising an oscillatory wing,

adapted to be caused to swing laterally when hit by a letter and return to its normal position when the letter has passed, and a spring actuated clutch controlled by said wing for coupling and uncoupling the driving shaft with the stamp roll spindle.

5. In a machine for canceling mail matter, in combination, a letter magazine, feeding rollers at the foot of said magazine, means to separate the letters under the action of the feeding rollers so as to form a continuous train of single letters, a rotatory stamping device comprising a stamp roll the rotation of which isautomatically interrupted at variable intervals and a counter roll, a stamp roll start-ing device interposed between the feed rollers and the stamping device and comprising an oscillatory Wing, adapted to be caused to swing laterally when hit *by a letter and return to its normal position when the letter has passed, and a spring actuated clutch controlled by said wing for coupling and discoupling the latter with the stamp roll spindle, said stamp roll spindle carrying beside the roll a freely rotating roll of the same diameter so as to continually partake in the rotation of the counter roll, and means to throw the letters out from the stamping device to a receiving device.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention, Ihave signed my name.

GUSTAV ADOLF HANSEN. 

